9 Ways to Make Your Home Safer

Most burglars don’t waste their time on homes that will pose difficulty to them, looking for houses with easy, weak entrance spots. Approximately 9% of break-ins involve garage doors. If you have a power garage door, we advise you to leave it as it is. Many news outlets have popularized the notion that adding a zip-tie to secure the manual release latch on your garage door will make it more secure, but it really just violates the National Standard for Garage Door Openers.

Very few burglars go through such technical methods to infiltrate a home. Your defense efforts are better spent in other areas. Here are 9 ways to protect your home and family that you can take today:

Keep Valuables Hidden

Don’t leave large valuables in your garage. While your garage door is open, your belongings are on full display to prospecting burglars. If your garage is the only place to keep your valuables, make sure they are out of sight while the garage door is open.

Reinforce Your Front Door

One common method for burglars entering a home is kicking in the front door. Knowing this gives you power. Strengthen your door locks, add metal plates and replace short mounting screws with longer ones. Strengthening your front door is one of the best ways to protect your home. If a burglar can’t get in through the front door they will likely move on quickly.

Investing in an alarm system is a great idea if you have a family, pets or anything valuable in your home. Alarm systems beep whenever anyone comes near, a sure deterrent to a burglar. It may cost a bit up front to install the system, but comprehensive security systems have come down in cost due to society’s advancement of technology, making security more accessible for everyone.

Car Locks

Don’t take any chances with your car door locks, even if you keep your car in a garage. Ensure your car doors are always locked. Car break-ins are still very common.

Motion Detector Lights

Motion detector lights help you make your way around your home in the dark and are very handy to guests who may not know the ins and outs of your property. Motion detector lights are also great for warding off burglars. Once a light goes off it alerts homeowners of a presence and also illuminates their faces making them much more identifiable.

Join A Neighbourhood Watch Program

A unified neighborhood is a safe one. Having a neighborhood watch placard in your front window lets any infiltrators know that you take your home’s security seriously, as well as that of your neighbors. Your neighbors will also keep an eye out for you. Again, any perceived difficulty will usually cause a burglar to skip your property. The knowledge that the whole neighborhood is looking out for their antics is a huge demotivator.

Vacation Mode

Your garage door opener has a ‘vacation mode’, which means it can’t be opened remotely. Your garage door will be sealed closed while your away, frustrating burglars who want to try to break in that way.

Don’t Broadcast Your Vacation

It’s tempting to broadcast news of an upcoming vacation on social media, but your home will be safer if you resist the urge. Burglars may see this and realize your home has no-one inside it for a span of several weeks, giving them the perfect opportunity to stage a break in. The less you broadcast about your life, the more you keep yourself and your family off the radar of criminals.

Likewise, don’t change your phone answering machine to indicate you’re currently out of town. You may even want to buy a cheap radio and leave it playing near your front door while you’re away. The sound of music playing could lead a burglar to assume someone is inside the home, and pass it over for an easier site.

Home security is a big deal for you and your family. We all want to trust our neighbors and believe our towns and cities are full of good, well-intentioned people, but that’s simply not the case. For more information on securing your home, call Heritage Home Design at (416) 578-4264 or contact us here.